Various patents have been granted on toy devices that are convertible in one way or another. U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,348 depicts a case that can be open to allow a popup figure to be displayed. The figure is carried on a table journalled in a tray for rotation about an axis parallel to the base of the device. As the tray advances to the opposite end of its travel, it passes over a fence that cooperates with a formation on the lower face of the table to erect the figure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,904 illustrate a toy locket which contains parts that can be manually rotated out when the locket is opened. These parts may simulate parts such as the head and extremities of a living thing. Because of grooves in the periphery of the locket, it may be closed with these parts in the exposed position, and, in this way, the locket may be used as the body of the living thing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,618 is one of a number of patents in which a device of one design can be converted to a device of a different design by manually rotating various parts. For instance, in this patent, a pair of binoculars can be changed into a toy robot.
The inventor herein has been involved with others in creating a device in which a figurine seems to be piloting a boat. When the figurine is pressed forward and downward it ends up face down in the boat while a different figurine is rotated out of the bottom of the device and ends up sitting in a different configuration, such as a telephone which is apparent once the device is turned over. In this device, a flap is rotated with each figurine to fill in the area immediately forward of the figurine when it is in the sitting position. However, when the figurine is depressed, its back and the interior of its container are open to the elements.